South Africa, the sequel

[lars de wit]

Hello hello,

As from tomorrow we, Yvette and me, will push our bikes east, from Johannesburg where I am now ( Yvette is 10.000 meters above sealevel and we will meet tonight, after a 4 month separation ) we will cycle to Swaziland first and then into Mozambique.
Trust it will be fun and hope you will have fun reading our adventures.

Greetings and all the best !

[lars de wit]

Hello hello !

First my apologies for sending, no, for NOT sending some mails ...

There were little internet cafes on the road.

A lot has happened since we left Johannesburg more then two weeks ago ...

The first two days were not that great, many busy roads with a lot of traffic; many trucks transporting coal to one of the 5 coal power plants we saw around Johannesburg. But we cycled some gravel roads as well which were great.

And the scenery got better and better closer to Swaziland.

We had a days rest in Mliwane NP at a great campsite within the park.

During the day many antilopes and wharthogs wandered around, very nice !

Day after we cycled through another National Park on our way to Mozambique. At the gate was a warning sign : Cyclist and Motorists be aware, lions and elephants crossing the road.

Oeps ...

Sorry parents but it was the only road, we didn't look for it

But it turned out to be just fine, we saw 2 giraffes and some antilopes but nothing bigger.

We found a great camping inside the park.

There was a small lake and immediately we saw a white rhino !

Very close too, maybe too close; I was standing 20 meters from him ( or her, always difficult to tell with rhino's ) and was ' protected ' only by a 1 mm thick iron wire and found this huge animal looking at me ...

I stood very still and made some photographs, awesome !

At night we heard a couple of times lions roaring, welcome to Africa !!!

Next day we arrived at Mozambique border where we had to pay 84 USD for a visa, pretty expensive !

Maputo was not that great, in fact I found it a little disappointing, never trust the Lonely Planet saying how great this or that city is ...

It was not bad but also not beautiful.

First two days we had some trouble finding a spot to pitch our tents in Mozambique; people were not that willing to let us pitch our tents in their gardens.

First I thought it was maybe because we were a bit close to the big city ( always some more crime ) but later we had the same ' problem '

Then we thought people were just a little careful, not knowing if they could trust us ?

With the violent history of this by the way beautiful country and its people maybe not that surprising ...

It took us some times one hour to find a place we we always did.

And then I got sick.

Drank some bad water or was it ( too ) the malaria pills we took ?

I never know but it took me one and a half day to recover and then Yvette got sick ...

We both felt pretty bad from the malaria pills ( Malarone ), for me the second time in a year ...

After long discussions we decided to leave Mozambique so we could stop taking the pills.

Now we are in Nelspruit, SA again, but Yvette still cannot cycle.

As we speak, ehh, as I am typing she is visiting a doctor where hopefully she can get a good medicine and hopefully quickly recover so we can jump on the bicycles again, soon ...

I will let you know.

For now all the best !

Greetings

[Marco Meijerink]

Hoi Lars,

Wens Yvette beterschap van ons! En natuurlijk een beetje vertrroetelen .

Groetjes,
Marco

[Wit]

He jammer Lars,

Hopelijk knapt ze snel op zodat jullie weer smane kunnen genieten.
Beterschap voor Yvet!

Blanche

[lars de wit]

Hello,

So I left you at that internetcafe in Nelspruit, Yvette visiting the doctor.
Well, she didn't return with too good news, she got some heavy medication and for sure couldn't cycle for at least a couple of days ...

A little sad and not knowing what to do we returned too our backpackers hostal.
Next morning my little sweetie got a briljant idea : why not hire a car and go into Kruger NP for two days ?!?
It would kill some time, the medicin could kill some infection and we wouldn't have to kill each other !
3 times a win huh

And so we did, we hired a nice bakkie ( pick up truck ),left our bikes at the backpackers, threw our bags in the back of the truck and off we went.

Radio on 10 en we hit the road

In two days we saw the big 5 : rhino's, elephants, buffalo's, lions and a leopard.
The leopard was hunting and we watched him carefully; he was like 30 meters from the road lying in the grass looking at a herd of antilopes.
One small antilope came closer and closer, the leopard pushed himself to the ground ...
Inside our cars we were watching it, holding our breath ...
Come on boy, I whispered, now ! The antilope only 10 meters away from him; he could have caught it but he didn't move ...
And so the antilope passed the leopard, the herd followed at a bigger distance and moved slowly away.

Today we brought the car back, jumped on our bikes and cycled, without luggage, 60 km back to Sadie where we spend the night before and left our tents and bags for a easy ride back today, at least, thats what I thought.

It turned out to be a hard day, 60 km almost only climbing ( we made over 1200 altitude meters ) and it was above 30 degrees.
And we didn't cycle for a week orso and Yvette with all her pills ...
But we did it slowly with many breaks and we made it !

So glad to be on the road again, NOT in a car or bus, blehhh, we both hate it !

Tomorrow we will cycle north towards Blyde River Canyon, must be an awesome place !
It all is very pretty actually.

Keep you informed,

All the best !

[lars de wit]

Poink, poink, poink ...

Drops falling from my face on my bike.
It's 0730 in the morning and already above 30 degrees as we cycle up this hill, sweating a lot.
Destiny for today is Gods Window; I say to Yvette I hope he is at home
Gods Window is one of the viewpoints at Blyde River Canyon which is a great NP northeast of Johannesburg.
It is very hard cycling because of the heat but we are doing fine and Yvette is doing better and better. She is never complaining, tough little woman !

One day we cycled 80 km and were at the bottom of this pass, it was in the middle of the day and so hot but too early to stop so we decided to climb this pass as well.
We ended up in this little town where we spend the night in the garden of the police station, a quiet night we thought and hoped.
So not ...
When it was dark this bright light was above our tents, feeling like it was in the middle of the day. not too good to sleep under ...
And at 0230 there were like a thousand chickens all around us in this village awakening us ... kukeleku !!!! Kukeleku !!!! They kept kukeling all night long ...

Not the first time by the wat, it is something of this trip ...
Chickens, a busy road, parties, even a gospel church who started to sing at 2400 hours at night !!

Yeah, the nights are heavy.
So is cycling with temperatures above 30 degrees but we are doing fine, more then fine ...

In Tzaneen where we arrived yesterday we looked for this backpackers but it was quite dirty and pretty rundown. So we said to each other to look further and I had this idea to ask at this B&B 500 meters back. So we went there and it turned out that we could camp in their garden, for free and this nice lady working there took our dirty clothes with her to her house and washed and dried them ! How nice huh !
So we decided to stay another night haha no that was because we were both a little tired and needed a resting day.

Yvette is making a cake for the woman today to say thanks

Tomorrow we will move on west, to Pilanus NP. through beautiful South Africa.

Me with a beautiful girl, lucky me

All the best !

[bikebabe]

Hoi Lars en Yvette,

Wat gaaf dat jullie weer in Afrika zitten! (als jullie er nog zijn...)
Have fun en hopelijk tot een volgend fietsweekend.

Groetjes

Irma (was mee tijdens jullie welkomterugweekend..)

[lars de wit]

Hello hello,

Too long ago ...
That's the first bad; there are so little internetcafe's in the bush, or in those little towns we cycle through ...
So yeah, that's a bad excuse for not sending a mail for so long.

A good thing is the nature north of Tzaneen, Blyde River Canyon to name something, gorgeous it is !
Very hot too, every day above 35 degrees, another good thing.

Now for something ugly, those are the nights.
If we sleep in a forest there is a light shining in the distance, looking like a flashlight waving around. Coming closer ? We looked for half an hour but then decided it wasn't coming closer. Still a little worried we went to bed and were fine but strange it was.
In the morning I looked at the direction where the light was and it must have been above the trees, miles away. At least, that was what I thought.

Strange but this mail is most about the nights, we really had some bad ones...
That night when we slept at the police station and in the evening the spotlight came on every time somebody ( I think even mice could activate it ) walked nearby, terrible !
And those chickens at 02.30 in the morning, not 1, not 100 but at least a thousand; kukeleku ! Kukeleku !!! All around and way past sunrise, grrrr.
Or that night we slept in this nice garden, superb !
So not were the 29 ( really ! ) dogs at night, what a hell it was !
Lightning and thunderstorms ...
Chickens, chickens and more chickens...

Anyway, we survived all of that and made it to Sun City where we had one of our resting days, visiting that las vegas style complex. It was nice but not too nice; we ended up in the theatre and watched a movie, which was nice !

Then it was time to go back to Jo'burg where we had to catch a plane.
Yvette was going to work for the last month and I decided to join her on the plane, cycle around in the Cape, visit Tulbagh again ( where I am right now ).
It is so beautiful here, I understand Yvette more and more

In a month we fly back to Holland, with our memories.

Untill then I try to send another mail, maybe two.
I know it is not so frequent these days but it is different when you cycle with somebody.
I guess know I share my thoughts and adventures with my companion, in stead of with you.

But that's good for me and too bad for you.
Oeps that's ugly Lars ...
Hahaha

All the best !

[Anneke]

Goed om te horen dat je zo gelukkig bent Lars!
Enne, wij weten nu ook allemaal waarom (van de week nog in het tijdschrift gelezen )

[lars de wit]

Hello hello !

Last week I cycled alone for one week, Yvette was sick and tyred of me.
No just kidding, Yvette had to work so I rode around for a while.

While I was doing that I had a luchstop on the third day; not my first one ofcourse. I have many stops to eat eat and eat. And drink a lot, it is so hot here.
I was carrying every day 12.5 liters of water; pretty remote area here in the western cape.
Rocky desert, endless roads. nice gravel or grondpaden, 3 cars a day.
Perfect !
Oh yeah, the lunchstop.
That lunchstop.

First I have to tell I maybe have a sixth sense for broken things as well ( the other one is even better, looking for places to sleep in the bush; sometimes my steeringwheel just turns into this sideroad to find me a perfect place to pitch my tent, how wonder- and helpful ! )

The lunchstop.
I looked at my frontwheel and my bread just stuck into my throath ...
What's that ?!?
Oh shit no ...
My front tyre wasn't round anymore but sort of bubbling; the innertube almost out.

Now I have to go back again, strange mail this is becoming but then again, a mail is always about the past, right ?
But 2 weeks ago I changed my rear tyre for my spare one because there wasn't that much profile anymore. And decided to throw my old but still not too bad tyre away. Only a couple of weeks of cycling left.
1 day later, yeah, at another lunchstop, I looked at my tyre and saw this 8 cm cut in it ...
No spare tyre with me, stupid, stupid me that I thrwe the old one away yesterday !
Can you believe it ?!?
I always cycle with a spare tyre, almost never have to use it in all those years and all those kilometers; I throw one away and next day I need one !!!
But I fixed it with tape from the inside and pieces of innertube on the outside, not too bad !
I could cycle again and within 10 km there was a shop.
' A bicycle shop ' I shouted to Yvette as a joke.
But it actually wasn't.
This general dealer had indeed tyres !
Not the best brand ( as would show later ) but it was tyre. Indian brand, not expensive ...

So that tyre what I was looking at at that lunchstop, that tyre was bubbling !
After only maybe 1000 km.
Thank God I didn't threw my old tyre with the 8 cm cut in it away.
I changed tyres again, pieces of innertube around my tyre and only a 100 km to go to the next town, bought a new one, a chinese brand this time and cycled out of town looking for a place to pitch my tent for the night.

Next day I cycled some more desert before going into the mountains again.
And had a flat tyre.
The first one that day ...

Later I had to cross this 50 meter wide river, water pretty deep.
But not moving so no danger.
I waded through with my bike, the ater rising and rising.
Now it hit my brand new ortlieb 100 % waterproof bags so no problem.
Higher and higher untill ...
My bike started to float !!!
Ha ha ha like a dobber, going up and down.
Very amused I was and made it to the other side of the river where ...

I had my second flat tyre of that day.
200 meters further my third ...
a little further my fourth ...

I cycled a 100 km so decided to look for a place to camp.
There was a campsite so I decided to go for a hot shower.
After checking in I walked to my bike, guess what ...
Another flipping flat tyre !!!
Pitched my tent, repared the flat tyre, carried my bike to the fence ( not touching the ground, remember that fact), drank a beer and started to cook dinner. While doing that I looked at my bicycle and the impossible had happened ...
My sixth flat tyre of that day !!!
Aaarghhhh !!!
I cut my old tyre and layed it into my tube so a double protection, now that helped !

But, the next day the sun was shining again, the road started to climb again, over a pass to Wuppertal and up a 4x4 path. I had to push my bike for something like 3 km that heavy track it was but so beautiful ! Later very sandy as wel but those mountains around ...
So great !
The last day started with a 1000 altitude meters in 25 km.
My plan was to ride to tulbagh again ( must be someone special there huh
After those firts 25 km I thought I couldn't make it but then the wind changed into a tailwind.
I hit tarmac again.
A fairly flat ( no not a tyre ) road.
Sweet smsjes from my sweetie asking if I couldn't come home that monday.

Now I could do that 150 km.
Easy !
It turned out to be only 144 km and pretty tyred but satisfied I arrived.

Tomorrow we go together on a 3 or 4 day tour.

Keep you informed !

All the best

[Fietsertje71]

Hey Lars,

Thanks for sharing

De speculaas ligt weer op de plank hier. Mischien kunnen we er met de volgers een ketting rijm bijvoegen.

Ik zal wel beginnen:

Sint pakt een stoel en zit,
altijd weer die Lars de Wit,
hij maakt van elke tocht een avontuurlijke rit,


...

[lars de wit]

Haha roald, leuk geprobeerd maar ik denk dat iedereen met de echte sinterklaas bezig was !

[lars de wit]

of this trip that is ...

Last few weeks I was cycling around, or stayed, in Tulbagh in the western cape.
Stunning place in an absolutly breathtaking valley, surrounded by large mountain ranges.
If you do not know where to cycle your next trip, maybe South Africa is a good idea.
Yvette and me enjoyed so much hospitality cycling around.
99 out of a 100 times it was okay to pitch our tent at a farm, in a garden. Many times people asked us to sleep inside, sometimes we really couldn't refuse, they insisted to be their guests. So nice !

We enjoyed the weather, the mounrains, the dirtroads.
The passes through the mountains, the lakes and waterfalls.
Cycling through the desert, through forests and each other.

All good things come to an end we say in Holland, well, not for South Africa !

I am sure it will stay beautifull here, particularly in Tulbagh

All the best !

Lars

[paulus070]

wie had dat kunnen denken ! lars de wit uit de steendijkpolder fietst de wereld over , ik ben onder de indruk

[dik5]

wie had dat kunnen denken ! lars de wit uit de steendijkpolder fietst de wereld over , ik ben onder de indruk

Denk dat je wat hebt gemist

[Travelmaster]

Dat denk ik ook... zoek maar eens op Lars' Revanche in de Andes voor een écht ongelooflijk verhaal...